The Topeka School: Ben Lerner - Hardcover

Lerner, Ben

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1783785365 ISBN 13: 9781783785360

Publisher: Granta Books, 2019

Synopsis

One of Barack Obama's Books of the Year 'I think the future of the novel is here' Sally Rooney 'A hugely moving American masterpiece' Max Porter Adam Gordon is a senior at Topeka High School, class of '97, the son of two psychologists. He is a renowned debater and orator, an aspiring poet, and - although it requires a lot of posturing and weight lifting - one of the cool kids, but he's also one of the seniors who brings a loner, Darren Eberheart, into the social scene, with disastrous effects. The Topeka School is a riveting story about the challenges of raising a good son in a culture of toxic masculinity. It is also a startling prehistory of the present: the collapse of public speech, the tyranny of trolls and the new right, and the ongoing crisis of identity among white men. 'His most discerning, ambitious, innovative and timely novel to date. ... deeply inspired' Maggie Nelson

About this title

About the Author

BEN LERNER was born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1979. He has received fellowships from the Fulbright, Guggenheim, and MacArthur Foundations, and is the author of three internationally acclaimed novels, Leaving the Atocha Station, 10:04 and The Topeka School. He has published the poetry collections The Lichtenberg Figures, Angle of Yaw (a finalist for the National Book Award), Mean Free Path and No Art as well as the essay The Hatred of Poetry. Lerner lives and teaches in Brooklyn.

From the Back Cover

Adam Gordon is a senior at Topeka High School, class of '97. His parents are psychologists, his mom a famous author in the field. A renowned debater and orator, an aspiring poet, and - although it requires a lot of posturing and weight lifting - one of the cool kids, he's also one of the seniors who brings the loner Darren Eberheart into the social scene, with disastrous effects. Deftly shifting perspectives and time periods, The Topeka School is a riveting story about the challenges of raising a good son in a culture of toxic masculinity. It is also a startling prehistory of the present: the collapse of public speech, the tyranny of trolls and the new right, and the ongoing crisis of identity among white men.

Edition details

• Publisher: Granta Books
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1783785365
• ISBN 13: 9781783785360
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304